Needlework Tuesday

It's been a while since I have written a proper Needlework Tuesday blog entry. Summer has kept me busy and not always doing what I want to be doing. The past two weeks I was back and forth to my neighbour's many times. She is expanding her restaurant to include a banquet room and needed lots of new linens. She is a practical women so figured it was better to make them herself.

I helped her and her mom cut table clothes (80 ish) and napkins (250 ???) and showed them how to do a rolled edge on the serger, which neither of them had ever used previously. What and adventure. They feed me Greek Coffees with tons of caffine until I couldn't re-thread the machine for them. Even though it was difficult, we still had a good time and she knows that I'll help her out any time.

I did manage to fit in a bit of knitting. A few weeks back I said that I was going to knit a 'Harry Potter' type scarf for daughter on her little circular knitting machine. Thought I had better try it out on some scrap yarn first. That's her in the first picture wearing the result. Yes, rather colourful, but she loves it. I did have some problems with the yarns catching on the needles and its rather skinny. Will do the 'Slitherin' scarf on regular needles.
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After that was finished I started on my new scarf. I used 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM fingering weight Merino. I absolutely love the feel of this wool. Will have to find another project to use more of it. I had bought this wool to make another scarf, but there was something wrong with the pattern. Wrote the pattern designer, but never heard back from them. I ripped it out and tried another pattern that my sister gave me. Didn't like all the yarn overs and knitting 3 stitches together, so ripped that out. I picked up a 4.5 mm long round needle, cast on 320 stitches and proceeded in stocking knit stitch for 10 rows. Then I switched to reverse stocking knit stitch (is that the correct term, now the bumps are on the front side) for another 10 rows and then kept switching every 10 rows. I am thrilled with how it turned out. Its going to look great with my brown shearling jacket.

I have yarn/wool bought for 3 more scarves, so you'll be seeing more knitting in the next while.

Provincial Parks and free book shelves

We were camping on the weekend at Craigleith Provincial Park in Ontario near Collingwood. Yes, it was a rather rainy weekend which meant that several books were required to help pass the soggy time.

Hubby went to the park store to buy some wood and came back with the exciting news that there was a Bookcrossing shelf in the store. Oh excitement!!! Off we went a little while later to see what free books we could find, and at the same time berating myself for not bringing any books to release. Yes there really is a wall of free books available, though I couldn't find one that had been registered with Bookcrossing. Hubby did find a book that he brought home. I suspect that when he is finished, I'll register it and include the story of where it was found and then we'll release it elsewhere.

I am wondering if other Parks have free book shelves? Please leave a comment if you know of any. Thanks.

Slash by Slash with Anthony Bozza

"The guitar is my conscience...whenever I've lost my way, it's brought me back to center; whenever I forget, it reminds me why I'm here."

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I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a peek into a life that has been lived extremely differently from mine.

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I'm not going to go into detail about Slash's life, if you're a fan you probably know far more than me, and if you don't know much about him, you'd enjoy it a lot more if you read the book. It's very readable and in language that you'd expect to hear if it were Slash himself sitting across the table from you. He does skip around a bit, but that is a matter of keeping to a story line rather than maintaining a strict time line. He mentions a lot of musicians that he's worked with, but as a matter of record and not in the least name dropping. His acknowledging his drug use and drinking is again fact and not boastful or moralizing. I found myself agreeing with him when he said that he couldn't be forced to make rehab work, it had to be his idea and timing. I was glad for him when he did get clean and realized that he could be just as creative and successful without all drugs.

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"Drugs stood between where we'd been and where we had to go;"

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Before reading this book, if you had asked me who Slash was, I would have said a musician. I wouldn't have been able to name any of the songs from his albums. Yet when he started talking about specific songs, particularly 'Paradise City' the tune and words popped into my head. My kids were quite surprised that someone my age would recognize any of this music. They forget that Guns n Roses was getting big while I was finishing University and their music was everywhere.

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I heartily recommend reading this book. It would make a fantastic gift along with an early Guns n Roses album (such as Appetite for Destruction or Use Your Illusion I or II), a Slash's Snakepit album(such as It's Five O'Clock Somewhere) and finally a Velvet Revolver album (such as Liberatad).

How Like and Angel by Margaret Millar

A wonderful 1960's era mystery.

Joe Quinn is a Private Detective Who has just been fired from his Casino job in Reno. He has caught a ride west with an acquaintance who has dropped him off short of his destination at the door of a dessert commune known at 'The Tower'. He is taken in by Sister Blessing who upon finding out that Joe is a PI, hires him to find out the location of Patrick O'Gorman. Joe reluctantly accepts the commission which sets him down a number of trails he couldn't have expected.

The twists and turns of this story kept me mystified. I couldn't guess what was going to happen next and how all those characters were going to be tied together. The fact that this story was written almost 5 decades past doesn't in any way diminish its impact. The characters are very believable. I liked Joe and his acceptance of the loss of his job due to his own failings. Sister Blessing seemed and odd fit for a religious commune, but she did seem to truly want to be there even when 'The Master' pronounced punishment on her.

I'm not going to say anymore as I don't want to start revealing any more of the plot. You'll have to find a copy and read for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Margaret Millar was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario which is in my 'neck of the woods'. My local library system only had this one book on their shelves, but I will definitely be asking them to arrange an inter-library loan for some of her other works.

To learn more about her books and life, be sure to read Margaret Millar's Biography.

3rd read for the Canadian Book Challenge

Book Reviews this week

With vacation time and such I didn't have a chance to post my reviews last week. I'll give you a heads up of what I have to come in the next week.

How Like and Angel by Margaret Millar, a Kitchener, Ontario born and raised author who passed away in 1994.

Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lional Shriver

The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini (first novel by a Zimbabwe writer)

Endurrun 2009 Day 7 Food Update

This was Marathon day. Yes the full thing. I've not run one, yet... maybe some day.

A few years ago the runners started requesting repeats of some of their favourite dishes from the past week and we were happy to accommodate. Fortunately they often seem to chose the recipes that we tend to like to make. Yippee. We also tend to splurge on calories and fat, so are open to almost any recipe suggestions.


Not surprisingly I was asked to make the Broccoli Salad again, that was the third time that week. In fact I have made it that often in previous years. The recipe is from 'Lighthearted Everyday Cooking' by Anne Lindsay and is from Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Broccoli Buffet Salad

• 3 cups broccoli florets (about 1 bunch)
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing

• 1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

In salad bowl, combine broccoli, onion, sunflower seeds, raisins and cheese.

Dressing: In measuring cup, stir together yogurt, mayonnaise, sugar and lemon juice; pour over salad and toss to mix. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 2 days. Makes 6 servings.

I was also asked to re-make the couscous salad. Its quite simple to make, and fit in with the diets of those with allergies/intolerances. This is from Anne Lindsay's 'Light Kitchen' in support of the United Way of Canada.


Easy Couscous Vegetable Salad

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup couscous
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 3/4 cup diced cucumber
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds

Lemon Cumin Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp each olive oil and water
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

In saucepan, bring water to boil; add couscous, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes; fluff with fork.

In salad bowl, combine couscous, celery, green onion, carrot, cucumber, parsley and sunflower seeds.

Lemon Cumin Vinaigrette: Whisk together lemon juice, oil, water, cumin and salt and pepper to taste; pour over salad and toss. Makes 4 servings.

Of course we have to have some desserts to round out the end of any marathon. Ours is no exception. There was my son's cheesecake, a wonderfully light trifle by the race director's daughter, a second pan of the 'Candy Bar' layer treat by the race director's wife along with several more. I made one of my favourites, 'Butterscotch Confetti' (that's the one with butterscotch chipets, peanut butter and coloured marshmallows) from 'Company's Coming: most loved treats'.

Our week of races in now complete. I have only given you a taste of the dishes that I prepared. There were many others made by the numerous volunteers and they were all wonderful. The race will be back again next year and so will the cooking volunteers. Perhaps we'll see you there???

If you try these two recipes, let me know what you think, or is you have a favourite post run food that you have to have, I'd love to hear about that as well.

Be sure to check the website for the Endurrun Race Series, 8 Days, 7 Stages, 160 km, 1 Tough Runner .

Endurrun 2009 Day 6 Food Update

Saturday was a double meal. In the morning was a 10k time trial that started in the rural community of Elmira and ended across the street from me at the race director's yard in Conestogo. In a time trial, the slowest runner starts first and the fastest runner starts last. There was 1 minute between runners. The goal of the late starters is to catch up to the runners before him/her. I was at the water station at the 7k marker. This is my usual place and it's always exciting to see how the runners bunch up and whether the final runner has been able to make up any time.

When the runners had finished and recovered their lost fluids they were ready for an 'American Brunch'. There was an assortment of sandwiches, veggie wraps, bagels, muffins, cookies and the ever popular Tim Horton's Donuts. Of course there was mounds of fresh fruit and juices and a lovely bowl of fruit salad.

Later that evening was a group BBQ at the race director's backyard. This was the traditional 'Pre-Marathon Pasta Feast' along with BBQ. .


I brought my usual 'Rotini with Tomato, Black Olive and Feta' from 'Lighthearted Everyday Cooking' by Anne Lindsay.

The recipe calls for Penne, but I don't really like that shape so changed it to Rotini. When we have our planning meeting, we actually discuss which shape pasta each of us will bring so that we don't have dishes with the same shape. That would be boring. The runners have also told us that they prefer the 'white' flour pasta rather than the 'whole wheat'.

My son make a huge Oreo cheese cake for dessert. Most runners had already left by that time, though the few who tried the cake loved it. The remainder was chilled and brought for the end of the marathon. His recipe was from the Kraft Canada website, though he increased the recipe by 1/4 using 5 blocks of cheese, 1 1/4 cups sugar and 5 eggs. That was barely enough.